Universal trailer hitch mirror system

ABSTRACT

A universal trailer-hitch mirror system has an attachment configuration ( 1, 20 ) with a system fastener that includes a suction cup ( 2 ), a tailgate hook ( 3 ) and a base ( 4 ) for fastening the attachment configuration universally to a support object that is accessible for support of a system mirror ( 7 ) for mirror viewing of tow components ( 18 ) of a tow vehicle and trailer components ( 19 ) of a trailerable vehicle with the tow vehicle being within hitching-steerable proximity to the trailerable vehicle. The system mirror can be positioned for viewing from either a rearview mirror ( 14 ) or a side-view mirror ( 22 ). A mirror holder ( 5, 21 ) is attached orientationally to the attachment configuration with an orientation controller ( 6 ). The system mirror is attached orientationally to the mirror holder with a system-mirror joint ( 8 ). The attachment configuration is articulated to be positioned in desired proximity to rear components of the tow vehicle, to front components of the trailerable vehicle and to objects which include ground surface ( 23 ) proximate thereto selectively. The system fastener is articulated predeterminedly to attach the attachment configuration to the support object selectively.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to mirrors for viewing trailer hitches onbacks of tow vehicles while being backed into hookup position forhitching trailer vehicles to the tow vehicles.

[0002] Known trailer-hitch mirrors and mirror systems provide variouslyfor mirror vision of trailer hitches for backing up tow vehicles to ahookup position in order to hitch trailer vehicles to the tow vehicles.None are known, however, to have an adjustable-angle mirror on a mirrorholder having orientational attachment to an attachment configurationthat can be situated universally on support objects for mirror-viewpositioning of a system mirror from either a rearview or a side-viewvehicle mirror in a manner taught by this invention.

[0003] Examples of most-closely related known but differenttrailer-hitch mirrors are described in the following patent documents:U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date 6,102,423 Beck, et al. Aug. 15, 20005,971,555 Wilcox, et al. Oct. 26,1999 5,313,337 Byers May 17, 19945,625,500 Ackerman Apr. 29, 1997 4,925,287 Lord, et al. May 15, 19905,784,213 Howard Jul. 21, 1998 4,905,376 Neeley Mar. 06, 1990 5,180,182Haworth Jan. 19, 1993 5,657,175 Brewington Aug. 12, 1997

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Objects of patentable novelty and utility taught by thisinvention are to provide a universal trailer-hitch mirror system which:

[0005] provides trailer-hitching view from an inside rearview mirror ofcars and trucks having rear-window vision;

[0006] provides trailer-hitching view through side-view mirrors ofvehicles not having rear-window vision;

[0007] is quick and easy to position wherever most convenient,accessible and effective for mirror viewing of trailer-hitch componentsof tow vehicles and trailerable vehicles that are withinhitching-steerable proximity;

[0008] can be stored conveniently; and

[0009] can be inexpensive and long lasting.

[0010] This invention accomplishes these and other objectives with auniversal trailer-hitch mirror system with an attachment configurationhaving a system fastener for fastening the attachment configuration to asupport object that is accessible for support of a system mirror formirror viewing of tow trailer-hitch components of a tow vehicle andtrailerable trailer-hitch components of a trailerable vehicle with thetow vehicle being within hitching-steerable proximity to the trailerablevehicle. A mirror holder is attached orientationally to the attachmentconfiguration with an orientation controller. The system mirror isattached orientationally to the mirror holder with a system-mirrorjoint. The attachment configuration is articulated to be positioned indesired proximity to rear components of the tow vehicle and to objectsproximate thereto selectively. The system fastener is articulatedpredeterminedly to attach the attachment configuration to the supportobject selectively. The orientation controller is articulated to orientthe mirror holder controllably in a desired orientation of attachment tothe attachment configuration. The system-mirror joint is articulated toorient the system mirror in a mirrored line of sight from a vehiclemirror to the tow trailer-hitch components and to the trailerabletrailer-hitch components selectively.

[0011] The above and other objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention should become even more readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed descriptionin conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and describedillustrative embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] This invention is described by appended claims in relation todescription of a preferred embodiment with reference to the followingdrawings which are explained briefly as follows:

[0013]FIG. 1 is a side view showing an attachment configuration that canbe one or more rods;

[0014]FIG. 2 is the FIG. 1 illustration with addition of a tailgate hookto the attachment configuration;

[0015]FIG. 3 is the FIG. 2 illustration with the tailgate hook being theattachment configuration;

[0016]FIG. 4 is a side view showing the attachment configuration as arod along which a plurality of suction cups are positioned withcircumferential and linear adjustment of positioning fixedly on the rod;

[0017]FIG. 5 is a side view of the FIG. 4 illustration in verticalorientation as a stand on a base that can include a suction cup;

[0018]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the FIG. 1 illustration having twobracket attachment rods;

[0019]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the FIG. 3 illustration;

[0020]FIG. 8 is a side view of a station wagon or sport utility vehicleon a rear window of which the FIG. 6 illustration is positioned formirror view through the vehicle from a rearview mirror;

[0021]FIG. 9 is a side view of a sedan motor vehicle on a rear trunk ofwhich the FIG. 6 illustration is positioned for mirror view through thevehicle from the rearview mirror;

[0022]FIG. 10 is a side view of a pickup truck on a rear tailgate ofwhich the FIG. 7 illustration is positioned for mirror view through thevehicle from the rearview mirror;

[0023]FIG. 11 is a side view of the station wagon or sport utilityvehicle on the rear window of which the attachment configuration that isan attachment rod is positioned with a system mirror in a center portionof the rear window for mirror view through the vehicle from a rearviewmirror;

[0024]FIG. 12 is a side view of the station wagon or sport utilityvehicle on the rear window of which the attachment configuration that isan attachment rod is positioned with a system mirror beside the rearwindow for mirror view through the vehicle from a side-view mirror;

[0025]FIG. 13 is a rear view of the FIG. 11 illustration;

[0026]FIG. 14 is a rear view of the FIG. 12 illustration;

[0027]FIG. 15 is a side view of a truck beside which the attachmentconfiguration that is the attachment rod on a stand is positioned on aground surface with the system mirror beside a rear of the truck formirror view through the vehicle from a side-view mirror; and

[0028]FIG. 16 is a side view of the attachment configuration that is theattachment rod that is telescoped for length variation and has a standthat can be a suction cup that can be positioned on either a side or theend of the attachment rod.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0029] Listed numerically below with reference to the drawings are termsused to describe features of this invention. These terms and numbersassigned to them designate the same features throughout thisdescription. 1. Attachment configuration 2. Suction cup 3. Tailgate hook4. Base 5. Mirror holder 6. Orientation controller 7. System mirror 8.System-mirror joint 9. Bracket attachment rods 10. Controller ends 11.Window-bracket member 12. Mirror attachment rods 13. Back window 14.Rearview mirror 15. Rubber bumper 16. Trunk top 17. Line of sight 18.Tow components 19. Trailer components 20. Attachment rod 21. Holder rod22. Side-view mirror 23. Ground surface 24. Telescopic sections

[0030] Referring to FIGS. 1-5, a universal trailer-hitch mirror systemhas an attachment configuration 1 with a system fastener that caninclude one or more suction cups 2, a tailgate hook 3 and a base 4. Amirror holder 5 is attached orientationally to the attachmentconfiguration 1 with an orientation controller 6. A system mirror 7 isattached orientationally to the mirror holder 5 selectively with asystem-mirror joint 8.

[0031] Referring to FIGS. 1-7, the attachment configuration 1 caninclude a window bracket having two bracket attachment rods 9 withcontroller ends 10 extended in a direction that is outwardly from a rearsurface of a vehicle as shown in FIGS. 8-10. For a window-bracketembodiment, the suction cup 2 is on a window-bracket member 11intermediate the two bracket attachment rods 9.

[0032] In the FIG. 8 embodiment, the tailgate hook 3 is attached to thecontroller ends 10 with the tailgate hook 3 being a large portion of theattachment configuration 1.

[0033] In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 7-8, the orientation controller6 includes two pivot joints with which two mirror attachment rods 12 ofthe mirror holder 5 are attached orientationally and fixedly to the twobracket attachment rods 9.

[0034] Referring to FIGS. 1-10, a support object to which the systemfastener is attachable includes a back window 13 of a tow vehicle in avehicle class that includes a station wagon, a sports utility vehicle orother motor vehicle for which the back window 13 is situated near a backand through which there is rear vision from a vehicle mirror that is arearview mirror 14 through the motor vehicle as shown in FIG. 8. Theattachment configuration 1 for such class of vehicles includes thesuction cup 2 that is placed at the top of the back window 13. A rubberbumper 15 proximate the controller ends 10 raises the attachmentconfiguration 1 off of the motor vehicle to prevent scratching ormarring.

[0035] Similarly as shown in FIG. 9, the support object includes a trunktop 16 of a tow vehicle in a vehicle class that includes a sedan and acoupe.

[0036] For a pickup truck with rear view from the rearview mirror 14 asshown in FIG. 10, the system fastener can include the tailgate hook 3.

[0037] For the embodiments shown and described in relation to FIGS. 1, 3and 8-10, there is a line of sight 17 from the rearview mirror 14 to thesystem mirror 7 for mirror-view vision of tow components 18 on a towvehicle and for vision of trailer components 19 on a trailerable vehiclewith the tow vehicle being within hitching-steerable proximity to thetrailerable vehicle. Optional U-shapes of the attachment configuration 1and the mirror holder 5 can be provided for facilitating the line ofsight 17 through them for these embodiments.

[0038] Referring to FIGS. 1-1.67, the attachment configuration 1 caninclude an attachment rod 20 along which one or more predeterminedsystem fasteners are fixedly positioned selectively and the mirrorholder 5 can include a holder rod 21 as an option to the two bracketattachment rods 9 and the mirror attachment rods 12 described inrelation to FIGS. 6-7. Positioning of the system fasteners selectivelyalong the attachment rod 20 includes affixing the suction cups 2 andother system fasteners circumferentially and linearly on the attachmentrod 20 as depicted in FIGS. 4 and 16. This allows the attachment rod 20to be situated circumferentially and oriented linearly in proximity towhatever support object is beside, under or otherwise proximate the towcomponents 18 and the trailer components 19. Hence, a relativelyuniversal aspect of this invention of a universal trailer-hitch mirrorsystem.

[0039] As shown in FIGS. 11-14, the attachment rod 20 can be situatedselectively on a back surface that includes the back window 13 and caninclude the trunk top 16 of a car that is used as a tow vehicle. InFIGS. 11 and 13, the attachment rod 20 is situated to position thesystem mirror 7 centrally to allow the line of sight 17 to be taken fromthe rearview mirror 14 to the system mirror 7 for use when there isvision through the tow vehicle. In FIGS. 12 and 14, the attachment rod20 is situated to position the system mirror 7 eccentrically at a sideof the tow vehicle to allow the line of sight 17 to be taken from aside-view mirror 22 to the system mirror 7 for use when there is notvision through the tow vehicle.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 15, some tow vehicles, including trucks withcargo beds, without through vision from a rearview mirror 14 may nothave a sufficiently smooth rear surface for suction attachment, butgenerally do have the side-view mirror 22. For such situations, theattachment rod 20 can have the base 4 that is described in relation toFIG. 5 and described further in relation to FIG. 16. The base 4 can bepositioned on ground surface 23, whether rubberlike for suction use alsoor rigid.

[0041] Optionally, the attachment rod 20 can be telescopic withtelescopic sections 24, as shown further in FIG. 16, for adjustableheight or distance positioning of the system mirror 7. Also optionally,the base 4 and other system fasteners can be magnetic for positioningthe attachment rod 20 on metallic surfaces that can include framework ofthe tow components 18 and the trailer components 19 in order to positionthe system mirror 7 for the line of sight 17 through the tow vehiclefrom the rearview mirror 14.

[0042] A new and useful universal trailer-hitch mirror system havingbeen described, all such foreseeable modifications, adaptations,substitutions of equivalents, mathematical possibilities of combinationsof parts, pluralities of parts, applications and forms thereof asdescribed by the following claims and not precluded by prior art areincluded in this invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A universal trailer-hitch mirror systemcomprising: an attachment configuration having a system fastener forfastening the attachment configuration to a support object that isaccessible for support of a mirror holder on which a system mirror ispositioned for mirror-viewing of tow trailer-hitch components of a towvehicle and for mirror-viewing of trailerable trailer-hitch componentsof a trailerable vehicle from a vehicle mirror; the tow vehicle beingwithin hitching-steerable proximity to the trailerable vehicle; themirror holder being attached orientationally to the attachmentconfiguration with an orientation controller; the system mirror beingattached orientationally to the mirror holder selectively with asystem-mirror joint; the attachment configuration being articulated tobe positioned in desired proximity to rear components of the towvehicle, to front components of the trailerable vehicle and to objectsproximate thereto selectively; the system fastener being articulatedpredeterminedly to attach the attachment configuration to the supportobject selectively; the orientation controller being articulated toorient the mirror holder controllably in a desired orientation ofattachment to the attachment configuration; and the system-mirror jointbeing articulated to orient the system mirror in a mirrored line ofsight from the vehicle mirror to the tow trailer-hitch components and tothe trailerable trailer-hitch components selectively.
 2. The universaltrailer-hitch mirror system of claim 1 wherein: the support object is aback window of the tow vehicle; the attachment configuration includes awindow bracket having two bracket attachment rods with controller endsextended in a direction that is outwardly from a rear surface of the towvehicle; the orientation controller includes two pivot joints with whichthe mirror holder is attached orientationally and fixedly to the twobracket attachment rods; the system fastener includes a suction cup on awindow-bracket member intermediate the two bracket attachment rods; thesuction cup is articulated and situated to suction-fasten the windowbracket to the back window of the tow-vehicle; bracket cushioning issituated intermediate the window bracket and the rear surface of the towvehicle; the mirror holder includes a mirror bracket having two mirrorattachment rods that are attached to the two bracket attachment rodswith the two pivot joints; the system-mirror joint is on awindow-bracket member intermediate the two mirror attachment rods; andthe vehicle mirror is a rearview mirror having line-of-sight visionthrough the tow vehicle to the system mirror.
 3. The universaltrailer-hitch mirror system of claim 1 wherein: the support object is apickup-truck tailgate on the tow vehicle; the attachment configurationincludes a tailgate bracket having two tailgate-bracket appendages withbottom extensions extended in a direction that is outwardly from a rearsurface of the pickup-truck tailgate; the orientation controllerincludes two pivot joints with which the mirror holder is attachedorientationally and fixedly to the two tailgate-bracket appendages; thesystem fastener includes a tailgate hook on a tailgate-bracket memberintermediate the two tailgate-bracket appendages; the tailgate hook isarticulated and situated to hook-fasten the tailgate bracket to thepickup-truck tailgate of the tow-vehicle; the mirror holder includes amirror bracket having two mirror attachment rods that are attached tothe two tailgate-bracket appendages with the two pivot joints; thesystem-mirror joint is on a tailgate-bracket member intermediate the twomirror attachment rods; and the vehicle mirror is a rearview mirrorhaving line-of sight vision through the tow vehicle to the systemmirror.
 4. The universal trailer-hitch mirror system of claim 1 wherein:the support object is a back of the tow vehicle; the attachmentconfiguration includes a back bracket having one or more back-bracketappendages; the orientation controller includes one or more pivot jointswith which the mirror holder is attached orientationally and fixedly tothe one or more back-bracket appendages; the system fastener includes asuction cup on the back bracket; the suction cup is articulated andsituated to suction-fasten the back bracket to the back of thetow-vehicle; the mirror holder includes a mirror bracket having one ormore mirror attachment rods that are attached to the back bracket withthe one or more pivot joints; the system-mirror joint is on the backbracket; and the vehicle mirror is a side-view mirror from which thesystem mirror is visible.
 5. The universal trailer-hitch mirror systemof claim 1 wherein: the support object is a side item proximate a backside of the tow vehicle; the attachment configuration includes aside-item bracket having one or more side-item-bracket appendages; theorientation controller includes one or more pivot joints with which themirror holder is attached orientationally and fixedly to the one or moreside-item-bracket appendages; the mirror holder includes a mirrorbracket having one or more mirror attachment rods that are attached tothe side-item bracket with the one or more pivot joints; and the vehiclemirror is a side-view mirror from which the system mirror is visible. 6.The universal trailer-hitch mirror system of claim 1 wherein: thesupport object includes a ground surface proximate a back side of thetow vehicle; and the vehicle mirror is a side-view mirror from which thesystem mirror is visible.
 7. The universal trailer-hitch mirror systemof claim 6 wherein: the system fastener includes the base on theattachment configuration.
 8. The universal trailer-hitch mirror systemof claim 7 wherein: the base includes the suction cup.
 9. The universaltrailer-hitch mirror system of claim 1 wherein: the attachmentconfiguration includes an attachment rod along which one or morepredetermined system fastener are fixedly positioned selectively; andthe mirror holder includes a holder rod.
 10. The universal trailer-hitchmirror system of claim 9 wherein: the attachment rod has a length thatis fixedly variable telescopically.
 11. The universal trailer-hitchmirror system of claim 9 wherein: the system fasteners include a rodbase on a base end of the attachment rod.
 12. The universaltrailer-hitch mirror system of claim 11 wherein: the rod base isarticulated to rest on the ground surface.
 13. The universaltrailer-hitch mirror system of claim 11 wherein: the rod base isarticulated to rest on the horizontal framework proximate the front endof the trailerable vehicle.
 14. The universal trailer-hitch mirrorsystem of claim 13 wherein: the rod base includes a predetermined basefastener.
 15. The universal trailer-hitch mirror system of claim 9wherein: the predetermined system fasteners include a tailgate hook.